Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all? In the prime ministerial beauty pageant, the clear frontrunner is Narendra Modi, according to the latest Mood of the Nation survey conducted by India Today. In responses to the question, â€œWho would you want as the Prime Minister?â€, Modi (24 percent) beats his nearest rival, Rahul Gandhi, by 7 points to claim the top spot. Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and LK Advani are tied for third place with 10 percent.

There is not a shred of good news for the Congress party in any of the results. If Lok Sabha elections were to be held today, the party would only get 110 seats â€“ which as the story observes would be â€œits lowest tally ever,â€ a dizzying drop from the 206 it won in 2009 and lower than the 114 it eked out in 1999.

Yes, respondents do overwhelmingly prefer the heir apparent to either his mother or MMS as the leader of Congress. Itâ€™s, however, poor consolation for Rahul whose personal popularity ratings are in a freefall, plummeting from 29 percent in 2010 to 17 percent today. In comparison, Modi has rised from 9 to 24 percent during the same period. And despite the unsuccessful fast in Mumbai, 60 percent would vote for Anna if he were to contest Gandhi Jr. And thatâ€™s up from 37 percent in August 2011 â€“ i.e., the height of Hazare mania! The numbers have little political significance except they highlight Rahulâ€™s persistent lack of popular appeal.

Perhaps all of this merely goes to prove that abstinence is indeed the secret of political success. Coming soon: a national ann shan yatra led by Rahul.

The only person doing worse than Rahul is Manmohan Singh who leads the bottom in the list of all-time best PMs of India at 2 percent. Indira Gandhi continues to rule the roost at 30 percent, though Atal Bihari Vajpayee seems to be gaining some ground. His clean image is a distant memory with half the respondents convinced that he knew exactly what Raja was up to in the 2G scandal. Only Sonia Gandhi is no worse for the wear. Only 19 percent feel sheâ€™s performed worse this year as the leader of her party.

As far as the bigger picture is concerned, the biggest winners are non-NDA and non-UPA parties who will win 44 percent of the vote since BJP has not fully capitalized on Congressâ€™ losses. BJP would win a projected 140 seats today, a modest swing of 2.3 percent. According to India Today, neither alliance is close to getting a majority in the Lok Sabha: â€œIn a nutshell, the next Parliament could see a prime minister from neither Congress or the BJP. The situation is reminiscent of 1996, but hopefully there will be a PM with more staying power than a HD Deve Gowda or IK Gujral.â€

Even BJP supporters are unlikely to be heartened by the prospect of their party ruling the roost with the unwieldy support of various regional parties. And to be forced to do so in the absence of a clear party consensus over its future leader. Modi may win the polls, but is far too polarising. Advani is a distant second while Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley barely register.

In sum, thereâ€™s plenty of reason for the Congress-naysayers to cheer but very little for a rudderless nation running dangerously adrift.

(Do read the survey in its entirety in the February 6 issue of India Today, available on news stands.)

This means UPA is coming to power in the next elections as well, because the "others" make the best out of their 5 years stint, and the NDA government will be comparatively cleaner and corruption free.

As far as Rahul G is concerned, many people inside UPA are waiting to see him get humiliated and get drown in his own ego. I know about several journalists who have complained how the Prince actually behaves like a Rightful Owner of India. He is not a leader of the masses, he is a leader of the band of arrogant lawyers and technocrats in his party.